Cyrus Products, Inc. Pop-A-Top Disposable Microwave Dish Cover

Cyrus Products, Inc. Pop-A-Top Disposable Microwave Dish Cover

Brief Description The Pop-A-Top disposable microwave dish cover is a unique kitchen utility product. It is an inexpensive way to remedy the problem of food contaminating the interior of the microwave during the cooking process. The product is a non-toxic paper cover that can be placed onto a microwave dish to prevent food from splashing out of the dish while the microwave is in use. The Pop-A-Top simply covers the top of the food dish while being secured to the side with an elastic band. It is of simple, inexpensive design that allows for disposal once used, therefore by default producing future sales potential. It is an item that can fill a very important niche in various kitchens ranging from the most basic to professional installations. The product benefits a wide range of consumers since according to the 2000 United States Census, 95% of American citizens own microwaves. Surely these citizens have all experienced the problem of food splattering inside their microwave while it was being heated. Many home-remedies have been concocted to correct this problem, however none of the currently available products or homeremedies attain the performance and quality of the Pop-A-Top. Please see next page for full instructions on use.

How to Use 1. Put fingertips into the opening of the cover with the outside of your fingers (finger nail side) contacting the elastic band in the opening. Now stretch the elastic band appropriately.

2. Place the front part of the cover (away from you) onto the front lip of the dish so that the cover grasps the outside part of dish. 3. Lay the cover flat on the surface of the dish while keeping elastic band stretched. Then release the elastic band allowing the cover to conform to outside of dish.

4. Place dish in microwave oven and enjoy a clean microwave after heating.

*** Avoid using paper towels that ruin food and make a mess *** *** Avoid hard plastic covers made with toxic plastic and pollutants ***

Sales Potential According to NPD Group, a statistical analysis group, microwave use is on the rise and continues to increase each year. "Microwaving has been flat for two decades, but it increased last year as Americans found a way to eat at home and not cook," said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at NPD Group. TheKitchn.com, a culinary artisan forum, indicates that even the gastronomic elite are turning to microwave use for convenience and efficiency. These are professional and amateur chefs that usually tend to shy away from microwave use, however it is clear that even they are increasing their microwave use. (TheKitchn.com, 2011) Even the New York Times has given microwave prevalence a boost:

Microwave energy can instantly penetrate food to a depth of about an inch, instead of slowly working its way in from the surface by conduction. If the food is less than an inch thick, it's essentially cooking all at once. That rapid heating generally means that the food retains more of its vitamins than it does when it's boiled, steamed or baked. (The New York Times, 2008) Recent census reports have concluded that 95% of U.S. citizens own a microwave including 74% of those under the poverty line. A good way to observe the use of microwaves by U.S. citizens is to use readily available, non-exclusionary voting systems. A very proficient way of doing this is to use online polling services and voting sites which allow all those who own a computer to comment on the matter. According to yahoo.com, TheKitchn.com, askville.com by Amazon, and several other online polling services, an average of 70% of those who own a microwave will use it several times a day. Therefore, our product has great potential for use and sale. While it is not guaranteed that all those who use the microwave will use our product, it is important to see the sales potential in terms of numbers. We know 95% of U.S. citizens have microwaves, but let s assume that number to be much lower, say 30%. U.S. population being around 300 million, this means about 90 million people own microwaves in our supposed scenario. If we can sell our product to just 1% of those 90 million, we would be reaching 900,000 people which is a great number when thinking in terms of profit potential. Furthermore, the product is sold as disposable, meaning the consumer will have to purchase the product again in the future i.e. it is not a one-time sale. Remember, these are extremely conservative numbers. Let s think about what this means locally. In any given area of South Florida, the target consumers of most stores are the 200,000 or so people located in the major cities surrounding the store. This number can fluctuate based on population density, but is a good average based on the U.S. census reports in 2000 and 2010. Using the same approach as above, although 95% of those in the target population own microwaves, we will say only 30% do. If only 1% of these supposed microwave owners buy/use the product, this means 600 consumers. Since the product is disposable and will not be a one-time sale, the consumers would have to return to purchase the product again at a later time. The assumed time for depletion of one package containing 10 covers is about one week. This means that every week customers will return to buy the product again. Should attrition leave less than 600 consumers, the number of consumers will still be large enough to constitute a steady stream of profit. Again, the numbers are very conservative. Our disposable microwave dish cover also pairs well with many items already being sold in the store. The cover was particularly designed for use with canned soups or stews that have tendency to create a mess during heating in the microwave. Sales of canned tomato soup ALONE are in the tens of millions of cans a month in the nation (Industry statistics, 2010). When you include all other types of soups, stews, chili, and vegetables you can see that there is great potential for the microwave dish cover to be sold along with these products. It would be

convenient and beneficial to buy the cover when you buy the items that cause the mess in the first place. These could be calculated or impulse buys by the consumer. Since the dish cover pairs so well with many items already sold in the store, it would be preferable to display the dish cover adjacent to its complimentary items. This can be a problem when considering where to place the Pop-A-Top packages since the shelves already contain a maximum number of items and the Pop-A-Top itself would not be in the same category as (for example) the soups and stews it could likely be sold with. That is why the Pop-A-Top can be displayed vertically along the edges of the shelves, hanging from a display strip. This is similar to other impulse buy display styles that are common in grocery store to sell items not similar to, but associated with the items on the shelves. We believe this is a great way to display the Pop-ATop as well as to introduce the product into the store with minimal change to shelf arrangements. General Information Product name: Pop-A-Top, Disposable Microwave Dish Cover Product material: PAPER, NON-TOXIC, POLLUTANT-FREE There is a need for a device to cover food during microwave oven cooking and heating, to protect the interior of the microwave oven from being splashed with food and fluids.

Often, people place a paper towel over the food being cooked or heated to protect the interior of the microwave oven against splashing. The use of the paper towel is inexpensive; however, the paper towel often rests on the food and undesirably absorbs the fluids from the food, causing the paper towel to stick to the food. The Disposable Microwave Dish Cover is used to cover food in various forms of containers, dishes, bowls or plates, particularly when being used for cooking or heating in a microwave oven, to prevent bits of food or other fluids from being splashed throughout the interior of the microwave oven. The cover can also be used in numerous other ways such as to keep food warm, to keep flies away from food, to prevent dust or debris from landing on food, to prevent food smell spreading, etc. We have designed a dish cover, of suitably adaptable size, which is intended to be placed over a food container, serving dish, plate, or bowl, being heated in a microwave oven, for one time use, and then discarded. We have seen the necessity for such a cover to be efficient, of adaptable to size to food container, INEXPENSIVE, resistant of bits of food and other fluids, yet permitting built-up steam to escape from the container. We have also considered most helpful for the dish cover to remain positioned above and out of contact with the food located in the container, even should the absorbent cover become saturated with bits of food and other fluids emanating from the cooked or heated food. Cyrus Products, Inc. would like to become a vendor for your company and introduce the Pop-ATop disposable dish covers to your local market. You can contact us at: sales@cyrusproducts.com or 954-922-7276 Thank you and best regards, Victor Mirea President Cyrus Products, Inc. Florida, USA

The Disposable Microwave Dish Cover IS UNLIKE ANYTHING CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON THE MARKET. The Disposable Microwave Dish Cover HAS NO COMPETITION. Thank you for your time and consideration.

sales@cyrusproducts.com Victor Mirea, President #954-326-8201 Alexandru C. Mirea, Marketing #954-465-9713 Fax #954-922-7276